Here we have the finalists in the category of making an impact.
Southwest London Local Pharmaceutical Committees and South West London ICB
Overview. The WinterFit MECC (Making Every Contact Count) intervention is a collaborative effort between Southwest London ICB, Dr Heffernan, Amit Patel and the Local Pharmaceutical Committees – delivering over 10,000 interventions across 70 pharmacies in just over 4 weeks.
Why? Prevention is key to reducing excess deaths and illnesses; WinterFit will be crucial in supporting patients aged over 65 in Southwest London during the winter months.
What happened? The intervention has increased awareness about winter health risk, promoted preventative measured and connected older individuals with relevant support services – including social prescribing options. Preliminary feedback from both pharmacy teams and participants has been overwhelmingly positive.
Looking ahead. The WinterFit MECC intervention has proven to be a scalable and adaptable model that can be easily replicated in other regions and settings. There are plans to expand the WinterFit MECC to additional locations and exploring new areas in which community pharmacy teams can make a significant impact on public health.
Vygon UK Ltd
Overview. A complex procedure for advanced ovarian cancer called Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) is being guided by a haemodynamic monitor from Vygon, which has proven to reduce post operative complications and time spent in a high dependency unit by 45%.
Why? Due to ovarian cancer having few or no symptoms, around 75% of people are diagnosed when it’s at an advanced stage. Standard treatment for advanced ovarian cancer is cytoreductive surgery (CRS) which is a complicated procedure, involving surgery which lasts between 8-14 hours. Mostcare Up provides an accurate guide to help clinicians make the right treatment decisions, providing unique variables focusing on cardiac output and efficiency.
What happened? Feedback from the team at Norfolk and Norwich is that the technology is easy to understand and simple to use. With fluid therapy critical to reducing complications in CRS, Norfolk and Norwich have used goal-directed intra-operative fluid management (GDFM) based on readings from Mostcare Up and have been able to make life-saving interventions. According to the hospital team, MostcareUp has allowed them to better target therapy for the patient and has been praised for changing practice by reducing the stress of difficult cases. It has enabled them to confidently tackle high risk procedures and assess patients in real time.
Looking ahead. Following its success in the hospital’s gynaecology department, Mostcare Up will be implemented in Norfolk and Norwich’s ICU. A multi-disciplinary team are also using Mostcare Up as part of a complex procedure called HIPEC, used to tackle aggressive ovarian cancer cases.
Pennine Care Foundation Trust/ Virgin Media O2 Business
Overview. The Pennine Care Foundation Trust revolutionised its digital strategy, working with Virgin Media O2 Business (VMO2B) to replace legacy tech, deliver SD-WAN infrastructure, create new digital hubs to improve skills, and deliver cybersecurity tools across the Trust.
Why? During the Pennine Care Foundation Trust’s digital maturity assessment 18 months ago, they found that their existing technology was poor and was having a negative impact on healthcare professionals, their productivity and wellbeing. The old system relied on heavily drawn out, manual processes which consumed a lot of clinician’s time. It relied on having technological understanding to fix issues remotely. With a low digital aptitude in many clinicians’ cases, this created frustration and delays to practice.
What happened? Digital leaders took the opportunity to transform the Trust in various ways, which would see them invest in a new network, simplify processes by introducing new digital tools, and create hubs to improve digital skills.
Working with Virgin Media O2 Business to deliver their SD-WAN infrastructure has immediately meant better Wi-Fi for staff and patients – the bedrock of future-facing processes. Fixing existing issues required a system overhaul. Everything was moved to the cloud to make it easier to implement new, more intuitive systems that would be easier to build and use. The Trust also introduced digital hubs as a solution to traditional IT support. The hubs act as on-site walk-in centres, allowing staff to come in with any issues without having to log a ticket or be seen remotely.
Looking ahead. Three more hubs are going live in the next month to increase support, alongside training courses which will focus on improving cybersecurity skills. The digital teams hope to continue automation more systems, such as making the process of patient observations mobile and building in modern applications that can interact with existing clinical systems.
Cassius+
Overview. Cassius+ is Suffolk’s digitally enabled model for patients with chronic diseases who could benefit from closer monitoring than standard GP or outpatient processes allow. Identified patients receive a package of health devices which allows them to report key information such as heart rate, blood pressure and temperature from their own home.
Why? The health monitoring extension of Cassius, Cassius+, allows patients and clinicians to unobtrusively monitor their condition and intervene early if they are becoming unwell. This avoids the use of the NHS urgent care system and give patients agency to take their care into their own hands.
What happened? In the six months it has been operational, Cassius+ has proven a significant asset to Suffolk’s healthcare provision; it has made a huge difference to patients’ quality of life and has alleviated stress for many healthcare professionals. They also believe they are getting more accurate readings as patients measure their in-home pulse, blood pressure or respiration rate. Patients have reported that they feel they have an increased level of support, have greater contact with people and have less anxiety as a result of having Cassius+.
Looking ahead. Cassius+ will continue to evaluate their progress and evolve their product around the needs of its patients, hoping to expand its usage across the UK.
Alertive
Overview. Alertive’s messaging application enables hospital staff to securely and directly communicate with their colleagues, helping clinicians use their time more effectively and make informed decisions promptly.
Why? When using legacy systems, hospital staff members encountered a range of challenges which hindered their communication. For example, not knowing the appropriate person to contact which would necessitate contacting the switchboard, no visibility as to whether messages had been received and creating a heightened level of urgency which made it difficult for staff to work efficiently.
What happened? These issues were addressed by implementing Alertive’s two-way communication application which enabled staff to share information and data more efficiently. All data shared in these messages is also secure and fully auditable, enabling the Trust to run reports that allow them to reconstruct the record of patient care delivered to better understand any particular areas that can be improved upon. Staff members who did not use Alertive also reported a significantly higher number of messages received outside of working hours, which can affect their ability to separate work and personal life.
Looking ahead. Alertive hopes to continue working with users to identify new ways of reducing response times, increasing staff engagement and wellbeing – which ultimately facilitates improved patient flow and outcomes.
Integrated Severe Asthma Care (ISAC) Team
Overview. The ISAC team identified complex asthmatics in primary care. This resulted in 241 patients receiving local review with 55 fast-tracked referrals. This allowed 60 patients to rapidly access biologic asthma therapies equating to saving of over £250,000pa. With additional lasting outcomes of new regional MDTs and increased community FeNO testing.
Why? Severe asthma is a significant health need in the UK. 5.4million people in the UK are treated for asthma and the annual NHS spend is £1.1bn. Within asthma around 1% of patients have severe eosinophilic asthma. These patients are the main cause of over 77,000 annual asthma hospital admissions (data from 2016/17) and the 3 daily deaths.
What happened? The team launched in Autumn 2021 aiming to improve severe asthma care throughout the BOB-ICS. The core project team consisted of a specialist asthma consultant, 3 respiratory pharmacists and an administrator. We then partnered with 2 district general consultants, the Oxford university hospitals (OUH) NHS Trust’s severe asthma team and the Oxford AHSN to achieve delivery. All 9 FeNO machines were embedded within primary care moving BOB-ICS with appropriate training provided. This moves BOB-ICS from the second lowest ICS for FeNO provision to the top quartile.
Looking ahead. The ISAC will continue to deliver outstanding patient care and improve services to ensure a high level of positive health outcomes.
